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Mountain Barbarians are of human size and stature; most tend to average about 5'10" in height and their skin is shades of gray or black, believed to be a result of foul magic that now permeates most of East Everoc's remains. They lack pain receptors and, compared to the humans they are descended from (and plague regularly), long lived, having the lifespan of a Dwarf. While these have some benefits that suit their warrior culture, in their day to day life it is very dangerous, as they may suffer injuries they are unaware of.

They are also inert to reanimating magic, another trait attributed to magic contamination. However, this does not prevent them from becoming Vampires or Necromancers, as they are not being brought into a state of undeath from death, though in either case they will be considered legally dead.

Barbarians have a very martial, fractious culture. Their clans would often battle each other, taking slaves and any resources not nailed down in the other clan's camps and towns, when they were not busied fighting off the Spawn of holistic and various horrors under their Fortresses and few harbors.

They are also talented shipbuilders and fishermen, as it was one of the few food sources available to many of them after East Everoc suffered from a mess of extreme tectonic movements and volcanism. This also allowed them to come to West Everoc to begin with.

A major aspect of Barbarian life is their rite of passage, The Trial of The Maw. Young barbarians are armed, given basic training in survival and combat and sent to hunt down a small band of holistic spawn or a forgotten beast, and each member of the group who survives return with a trophy. Those who fall in battle are granted an automatic pass to the trial, as they fell battling the enemies of their people.

Those who return without a trophy must undertake the trial again one year later (be it due to circumstance, cowardice, or it being stolen by a giant kea). Those who survive and claim a trophy but are no longer fit to be warriors will generally fill roles as teachers, craftsmen, and lorekeepers.

The name of Great Maw is that which has been bestowed upon Holistic Detective. While the barbarians do not worship her, they do express belief that she is very real and that those who die in an undignified manner (such as fleeing the enemy or failing to complete a great work), are condemned to her realm to be hounded by her spawn for time immemorial, making her the equivalent to a devil presiding over Hell.